MulateiroCalycophyllum spruceanum

Did you know?

• Mulateiro sheds its bark once a year. That yearly renewal, together with the bark's use in skin care, has earned it the nickname "the tree of youth"^[3].

• Riverside communities in Brazil call it escorrega-macaco, roughly "monkey slip", and describe the tree simply as slippery^{[4, 10]}.

• It often grows in near-pure stands along the big rivers, called capironales in Peru and matas-de-pau-mulato in Brazil^{[5, 8]}.

• It is built for floods. It grows on land that floods every season and can stand in floodwater for months^{[8, 9]}.

• Its species name honors Richard Spruce, the English botanist whose Amazon collections were handled in England by George Bentham, the man who named the tree^{[1, 2, 11]}.

• Its hard, durable wood is sold around the world and made into floors and parquet^{[6, 8]}.

Origins and history

Mulateiro is a tall, slender tree of the lowland Amazon, often 20 to 30 m (65 to 100 ft) tall, with a tall, narrow crown^[9]. Its most striking feature is its bark, which the tree sheds once a year^[3].

The tree belongs to the river floodplains. It grows on the flat land beside the main rivers of the lowland Amazon, land that floods each season^{[8, 9]}, and it often forms stands of its own: capironales in Peru, matas-de-pau-mulato in Brazil^{[5, 8]}. It grows fast, and a cut trunk can sprout again^{[6, 8]}. Its high-density, durable wood is exported worldwide, and in Peru it goes into flooring, parquet, furniture and building poles, and is burned as firewood or made into charcoal^{[6, 7, 8]}. Farmers in the Peruvian Amazon also plant capirona in agroforestry systems^{[6, 7]}.

George Bentham first described the tree in 1853 as Eukylista spruceana, and the botanist Karl Schumann moved it to the genus Calycophyllum in 1889, in Flora Brasiliensis^{[1, 2]}. The species name honors Richard Spruce, the English botanist who left for South America in 1849 and spent 15 years collecting plants in Brazil, Peru and neighboring countries, while Bentham received, named and distributed his collections in England^{[2, 11]}. Its everyday names come from the people who live beside it: mulateiro and pau-mulato in Brazil, capirona in Peru and Ecuador^{[4, 6, 10]}.

Traditional uses

Mulateiro's traditions come from the Amazon, where its bark has a long-standing place in skin care: researchers describe the tree as deeply rooted in the herbal traditions of the region, and the cosmetic industry has taken an interest in its bark^{[3, 4, 5]}.

• A bark infusion for the skin

  In the Amazon, an infusion of the stem bark is traditionally spread over the skin to keep it looking smooth, even-toned and youthful. After bathing, it is applied all over the body and left to dry.^{[3, 4]}

• Healthy-looking skin

  Mulateiro supports healthy-looking skin.*^{[3, 4, 5]}

• Hair care

  In the Amazon, preparations of the tree are also part of traditional hair care, used to keep hair looking full and healthy.*^[4]

• Antioxidant compounds

  The bark provides naturally occurring antioxidant compounds.*^{[3, 4]}

Plant compounds

Mulateiro bark is rich in tannins and other phenolic compounds^{[3, 4]}. It also contains seco-iridoids, a group of plant compounds that chemists have isolated from the bark^{[3, 4]}. In laboratory tests the bark shows strong antioxidant activity, which researchers link to its phenolic compounds^{[3, 4]}.